Kidney Patients, Diabetics and Seniors in Focus as Questions Swirl in Burgeoning Scandal

A Freedom of Information Act request has uncovered an explosive document from the American Dental Association (ADA) calling for research on the health effects of drinking fluoridated water.

The latest in a cascading series of adverse revelations about water fluoridation, the document appears at odds with years of public statements by dental groups assuring the public that fluoridation safety has been extensively researched.

The Campaign for Dental Health says on its website, “With over 3,000 studies or research papers published on the subject, few topics have been as thoroughly researched as water fluoridation.”

But newly obtained federal emails contain a statement from ADA calling for research on how fluoride ingestion and processing in the body is influenced by age, race, sex, nutritional status, medications, health conditions, and culture.

ADA also recommends research to determine how diabetics and kidney patients are affected by fluoridated water, and how age, sex, and race variables come into play.

Civil rights icon Andrew Young had spoken out against fluoridation in 2011, noting that “the story about fluorides keeps changing.”

The new documents show that Andrew Young’s and Dr. Gerald Durley’s statements opposing fluoridation generated a whirlwind of meetings and correspondence in dental and government circles.

A letter emerged in which ADA voiced concern that Young’s and Durley’s statements about fluoridation harm to minorities had “the potential to gain traction.”

Other nationally known figures subsequently waded in, such as environmental activist Erin Brockovich who called for Fluoridegate scandal investigations.

Best-selling author and nationally known physician Dr. Mark Hyman issued this statement: “I support federal investigative hearings looking into why our cities and towns are allowed to continue to add fluoride to public water sources and why the whole story about fluorides is only just now coming out.”

The ADA research recommendation document also recommends examination of total fluoride intake from all sources, and research on how dental fluorosis impacts minority populations.

Dental fluorosis is a disfigurement of teeth caused by excessive childhood exposure to fluorides.

The ADA’s recommendations were included in a July 21, 2011email from Nadine Gracia in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Health.

“Why did ADA not publicly release its research recommendations? Why did promoters continue saying fluoridation had been extensively researched?” asks Daniel G. Stockin, a career public health professional known internationally for his work to end water fluoridation.

“Kidney patients, diabetics, seniors, and those with intersecting risks – such as seniors who are kidney patients or diabetics – are going to be outraged as the details of Fluoridegate emerge,” he says.